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Federal investigators said Ross Roggio directed Kurdish soldiers to kidnap the victim, his own employee, and hold him hostage at a military installation for 39 days.
The employee, an Estonian national, planned to blow the whistle on the illegal activities going on at Roggio's facility in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, according to authorities.
While in captivity, federal investigators said the employee was "physically and mentally abused" at Roggio's direction.
His other employees were forced to watch "as a deterrent tactic," FBI spokespeople said.
The torture was discovered while authorities were investigating a separate, counterproliferation case against Roggio, officials said. Investigators interviewed one of his former factory employees, also an Estonian, who turned over a cellphone audio recording that implicated him in the abuse, according to the FBI.
"On April 15, Roggio became the second-ever person to be convicted under the U.S. torture statute since it took effect in 1994," authorities said.
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